Friday, 30 January 2009

Why can't people spell and punctuate properly?

Yesterday, I spent some time chuckling at this. It's the now rather famous Virgin Atlantic complaint letter about the food on board from Mumbai to London. It's hilariously well written, but I must say on closer inspection something began to grate. Why oh why can't people seem to punctuate and spell properly anymore? For example:

"What sort of animal would serve a desert with peas in?" Hmmm - there MIGHT be peas in the desert, I suppose, if there were a greenhouse and good irrigation?

"Could bring it crashing to it's knees...." Arrrggghhh! The misplaced apostrophe. This particularly gets my goat. Its is the possessive, and with an apostrophe it of course means something completely different. I also have a major gripe, whilst still dealing vaguely with aviation, about the use of an apostrophe in the shortening of Flight Attendants, FAs. Why on earth would anyone want to put an apostrophe there? It's a plural, my dears. You're not talking about the FA's suitcase (singular), or the FAs' uniforms (plural). This rule also of course also applies to CDs, DVDs and PCs, etc.

And don't get me started on your and you're, their and they're, and the random use (or complete absence) of commas, colons and semi colons.

I just wonder whether schools (except mine) actually ever teach these things. Can you tell I used to teach English?

I am a self-confessed grammar nazi. Someone pointed out that in my blog, I'd misspelled lose 'loose'. I almost screamed, I was so embarrassed! The only place I accept poor grammar is in text messages, because it's so damned hard to get to the apostrophe character on a phone keyset. Press 1 seven times? No thanks.

Favourite occupation: using semi-colons in proper situations as much as possible; I just love it!

The most amazing one to me is "greater then". I see this all the time out there on the Interwebs (sic). There are MANY people who don't seem to know the difference between "then" and "than". Isn't this basic English you learn at about age 5? Arrgghh! If people can't understand that it's "greater than", how in the world will they ever distinguish between "less" and "fewer"?

I actually found your blog while searching 'why some people can't spell'. It boggles the blank out of me. I work with someone who can't spell the simplest words and yet likes to be pretend to be smart. ARRRGHH!

I'm the same as the poster above. I read elsewhere that it's no longer a requirement for schoolchildren to spell properly in exams. We can probably all blame the Labour government's dumbing down of exam standards. I don't have children myself, but I'm seriously considering moving abroad where the school system is effective and teaches proper English grammar.

I'm 13 and I'm a homeschooler and I think I know how to spell better than anyone my age, or older. I just read a lot of books, and I have ever since I was four. One of my friends thinks women is the singular term. I dont even know what she writes for plural, womens? And frankly, I don't even want to know. Another friend of mine is a very bad speller, and when she used to homeschool then she always did "spelling" every single day, and got nothing out of it. She now goes to high school but still she writes "sapossed" instead of supposed, "botton" instead of button, "definattly" instead of definitely... the list goes on and on and on.It is extremely annoying and I always think "You are fourteen! You should know how to spell by now!"

I read a magazine where the writer wrote "there" instead of "they're". I e-mailed my complaint to the editor and you'll never guess what she said in her reply - "sorry, it slipped through". I couldn't believe that someone who obviously hasn't a clue when it comes to these words is actually employed as a writer and what's even worse is that the editor makes allowances for the writer's lack of knowledge.

I know he wasn't English, but why can't the English speakers pronounce properly the name of the artist Degas? Don't excuse anyone for intrusive Rs either. A reporter on Auntie yesterday used the term "see-soring" in a deliberate-sounding, flagrant manner. Vom.

Lady, please divorce that husband of yours and come with me. We'll create an army of babies who will learn how to spell properly and understand the difference between 'then' and 'than'.

I blame computers. Kids do not take the time to even LOOK at what they're writing anymore because communication is instant nowadays. Spell check does half the work for you, why bother learning anything from a dictionary?

I, for one, propose that all school require students to actually write their homework, their essays, their thesis's, their notes, and whatever else, LEGIBLY, using only pen and paper.

Only through such strict regime can our society be saved by the destructive force of our mass-consumer culture that tells us that students must have laptops and computers.

"Handwriting is not an isolated skill. It goes hand in glove with learning spelling, reading and pronunciation. Handwriting is the kinesthetic reinforcement for spelling accuracy. It also helps us slow down our thinking and contemplate what the message is we are trying to communicate, especially as a new writer of composition."

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About Me

This blog is about the joys and frustrations of being a pilot's wife. I'm a British woman married to an airline pilot. Due to the collapse of my husband's airline in the UK, in 2009 we took the plunge and moved to the Gulf where my husband has a new job as a long-haul pilot. After an uphill battle with infertility due to my PCOS, we are overjoyed to be the new parents of a gorgeous baby boy, born in April 2010.